The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
U.S. Patent DocumentsPat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee7,568,259B2Aug. 4, 2009Jason Yan9,119,512B2Sep. 1, 2015Martins Maintenance, Inc.8,839,477B2Sep. 23, 2014Irobot Corporation8,087,117B2Jan. 3, 2012Irobot Corporation7,571,511B2Aug. 11, 2009Irobot Corporation8,516,651B2Aug. 27, 2013Irobot Corporation6,883,201B2Apr. 26, 2005Irobot Corporation7,474,941B2Jul. 24, 2003Samsung GwangjuElectronics Co., Ltd.
Robotic vacuums have becoming increasingly popular to clean floors in modern homes. However, robotic vacuums frequently do not collect all of the debris on a work surface in a single pass. Several solutions to increase the efficiency of these devices have been attempted. Robotic vacuums have been equipped with different mechanisms, such as more dense brushes and more powerful vacuuming motors to reduce the possibility of leaving behind debris. Another solution is to use more intensive movement patterns that cause the device to cover areas more than once, however this solution increases the length of time required to adequately service an area.
A need exists for a method to increase the rate of debris collection of a robotic vacuum cleaner that does not increase the length of time to clean an area. A need exists for a solution that may be combined with other methods of increasing cleaning power.